SpaceX Just Conducted One Of Its Smallest Tests, But It Might Be The Most Important

If you aren’t keeping tabs with everything SpaceX is doing – change that.

Elon Musk’s space company is probably best known for its tests to land the first stage of their Falcon 9 rocket.

Today, SpaceX conducted a new test. It wasn’t quite as big as re-landing a rocket, but it could one day save astronauts’ lives.

At 9 a.m. ET, SpaceX’s Dragon 2 – also called Crew Dragon – shot up into the air above Cape Canaveral.

The capsule’s eight engines fired for about six seconds and sent the capsule about a mile into the air. As it fell back to Earth, three parachutes ensured the capsule made a soft splashdown just off the coast.

Here’s the full video of the launch and landing.

Why was the capsule not attached to a rocket?

Today’s launch was designed to test the capsule’s SuperDraco engines. These engines are vital in case of an emergency. If a rocket were to malfunction, the engines would light and carry the capsule away from the rocket. It gives officials another failsafe in case they need to abort a mission during liftoff.

SpaceX also threw in a test dummy with a variety of sensors to see how a real astronaut would have fared during the test flight.

The next test will be a lot harder

Today’s test was easy compared to what’s next. SpaceX is planning a second test later this year. The Dragon 2 capsule will be attached to a rocket in flight for the second test.